Coalfish India

We always try to establish some kind of "fish-day" - in many german parts, friday is the traditional one.
the "older" people still hold this tradition up. But the younger ones don`t. Well, Timo and me, we do not manage it, too. I am living in a harbour city but eat too less fish. I want to change that!

I made this one, because I found this package of green rice I bought in a wonderful store in Tübingen, South of Germany. I was just curious about. I mean, it has a beautiful vibrant color! Very special!
But: choose normal rice for that.There was no preparing advice on the package, so I cooked it like normal rice. It was really clingy after that. Still tasted okay, but not what I wanted.

Fish fits wonderful to rice, and I have this great korma paste recipe from Jamie Oliver.
(>> http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/uncategorised-recipes/easy-homemade-curry-pastes)
I make always more and freeze it. So I had a great dish to prepare quickly after work.

So, if you want to have some light fish with oriental spices, try this!


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Coalfisch Karma Korma

serves 2

Ingredients
> 2 x 180-200 grams coalfish filet (with or without skin)
> 1 TBSP korma paste (I do it myself, the recipe is from
> 2 green onions
> Olive oil
> 100 ml coconut milk
> some parsley or coriander leaves to sprinkle
> a little bit of chili
> 1 lemon, bio
> basmati rice for 2 (~150 grams dry rice)

Preparation:
First, prepare the rice:
>> Wash the rice in a sieve until the water coming out is clear (if it doesn`t , the rice gets clingy).
>> Heat some water in a pot, add a bit of salt and put rice into boiling water. If the rice is starting to "dance", let it cook for 5 minutes, then strain it.
>> Put water into pot again, a few centimeters high. Let boil and reduce heat until it simmers.
>> Put the sieve with the rice above and cover with aluminium foil. Then let it simmer for about 10 minutes.

Prepare the fish:
>> Heat big pan at medium heat.
>> Cover one side of the coalfish (if it has skin: on the fleshside) with half of the korma paste
>> Add a bit oil to the hot pan and put fish with the korma side down into it.
>> When it gets a bit of color after 4-5 minutes, turn and let fry for 5 more minutes.
>> Heat pan more and add green onions, the other half of the korma paste, coconut milk and chili.
>> Let cook a few minutes until the fish begins to fall apart.
>> If necessary, add lemonjuice to the sauce.

>> Put rice on plates, add fish and douse with sauce. Sprinkle with some green onions & parsley/coriander.
Serve with lemon pieces.

Mushroom-Tarte

I have these strange moments when I am on the market or somewhere where you can buy food, whereever, and see something that I know just from hearing but never prepared it yet by myself.
For example; I have been to the Languedoc (France) with my best friend last may, and we went on the marché du jour. I saw these awesome artichokes....I only knew them from pizza, from not-so-good-pizza, and I thought..how do they taste when they are prepared fresh???
Well, we bought some, and really: I HAD NO IDEA how to prepare them.
So first, I anatomized it, peeled off, cutted, twitched and picked....
Finally I called my boyfriend in germnay, he had to google it for me. That was quite funny, because he is absolutely not that "kitchen-boy".Now, he had to help me with THAT!
At the end, after a bunch of work, because we wanted to leave the artichoke in a whole and had to peel out the hay inside with a small spoon (we didn`t know any good trick to do it with less effort) we had a wonderful dinner with fresh fish and artichokes, olive oil and baguette.
It was worth the work!

The same happened to me on the market when I saw dried mushrooms.
Until I was something about 20, I HATED mushrooms, especially cèpes. I had a bad experience when I was a kid, so there was an obstacle. But things can change.
So I prepared these Mushroom Tarte,and what can I say?
It was awesome!
It smelled like...like..something mysterious, it smelled dark, it smelled like I bite into a forest. Mossy, tangy...full! Yeah, I guess I eat now more mushrooms.

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Mushroom Tarte

Ingredients:(springform of ~28 cm aperture)

Filling
> 700 grams fresh mixed mushrooms
> 35 grams dried mushrooms, different kind (cèpe, morel, shiitake ...)
(you can also take a plus of grams of fresh mushrooms instead of the dried ones. I prefer to have a lot of different ones, but if it is easier for you, take less sorts.)
> 2 shallots
> 1 garlic clove
> 1 small branch fresh thyme (or 1 tsp dried thyme)
> 2 tbsp. olive oil
> 250 grams liquid cream
> salt, pepper
> bit of lemonjuice
> 2 eggs
> a small bunch of chive, chopped
> 1 hand full of grated Gruyère (or another melting, aromatic cheese, not soft)

Shortcrust:
(you can also buy that one readymade in the counter fridge)
> 250 grams flour
> 125 grams COLD butter, chopped in dices
> a pinch of salt and sugar
> ~ 4 tbsp. COLD water


>> let dried mushrooms soak in hot water at least 1 hour.
>> In the meanwhile you can prepare the dough:
Put flour on a work surface, add butter. Rub butter quick and soft into the flour, until you`ve got little rough flakes. Add salt, sugar and water and combine QUICKLY until you´ve got a dough. Wrap in foil and put into fridge. for at least 30 minutes.

>> Preheat oven to 230°C (air circulation) ( 450°F)
>> Put soakes mushrooms into a sieve, rinse several times with clear water. Let drip down.
Chop all mushrooms (also the fresh ones) into pieces.

>> Peel shalotts and garlic, cut into little dices.  Put off the thyme leaves.
>> Roast shalotts, garlic and thyme gently in olive oil
>> Add fresh mushrooms. Add soaked mushrooms after pressed out all the water.
>> Roast a few minutes. Add cream. Let cook softly for some minutes, until cream boiled down a bit.
>> Flavor with salt, pepper and lemonjuice.

>> Whisk eggs with chopped chives, mix it with the mushrooms. (Leave some chives for decoration)

>> Roll dough out (thin) on a floured work surface, pinch a baking paper into a springform pan (~28 cm aperture) and put dough inside.
>> Your rim should be around 4 cm high.
>> Prick little holes with a fork into the dough.

>> Sprinkle dough base with grated cheese. Put mushroom-egg-mixture on top.

>> Put into oven for 15 minutes. Reduce then heat to 180 °C (350°F), leave the tarte for 10 more minutes in the oven.

>> Sprinkle with leftover chives.

FINITO!

Leek-Hash-Casserolle à la Dad

This one so so so so simple recipe is a homage to my daddy.
He was not very often at home, because he worked the whole day long, so my mum cooked a lot of awesome stuff.
But he did sometimes two meals for us (well, I remember those two, probably it was more...and I didn`t mention the Christmas roast goose, this is special).
The first one was just a good wholemeal bread (we have wonderful bread in Germany!) with fresh cheese, tomatoes, salt and pepper. Quite simple, but awesome.
The second one is also simple, but warm instead of cold, and you can read the recipe here.

He cooked leek with hash, mixed with nutmeg, salt and pepper, and it was just wonderful. So easy!
My mum mostly cooked casserolles for us. We were three (wonderful :)) girls and it was not easy to get us full. A casserolle did always its work.

So I took daddy`s recipe of the leek stew and made a casserolle out of it. It is so so so so tasty, just try it out. The crispy lid makes all just....just....aaye! Just heavenly!
Enjoy!
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Leek-Hash-Casserolle
serves 2

Ingredients:
> 2  leeks (~ 400 grams)
> 200 gramsground beef
> salt, pepper, nutmeg
> 1 Tbsp mustard (not too hot)
> 2 Tbsp Crême fraîche
> 70 grams Pecorino/Parmesan, grated
> breadcrumbs
> 250 ml vegetable stock

>> Preheat oven to 190°C / 380°F
>> Heat a pan with a little bit of oil and roast the meat a few minutes. Take out of pan and put aside.
>> Put leek into hot pan until it gets soft. Add vegetable stock & mustard. Let cook ~8 minutes.
>> Take pan from stove. Add Crème fraîche and two third of the cheese. Mix well.
>> Put all into casserolle. Sprinkle generously with all the breadcrumbs and the last third of cheese.
>> Sprinkle with good oliveoil
>> Put into oven for 20 minutes. The casserolle should be now as crusty and golden like on the photos. Take out and enjoy!
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Orange-Choc-Stix

I am kind of a person that doesn`t like throwing something away - I mean food. Everything else is easy. But food? No way!
It is always a challenge for me to deplete everything in my fridge, all the leftovers from cooking sessions, and I am extremely proud if I made it!

I never thought about the peel of oranges. Sometimes you rasp it to use it sprinkled in pancakes or something, but the whole peel?
But then I remembered something I saw once in France (OMG, I love this country!)
And because Timo is a chocolat AND a fruit junkie, this was perfect for another of my glorious wonderful kitchen experiments he has to taste before I do :P

Well, what shall I say? It worked. These beautiful and tasty sticks are awesome to eat along the way, because (probably your opinion is different) you cannot eat that much of it. It`s more a tasty pleasure than a crapulence, like you sometimes have with chips. Once you`ve started to eat, you do not stop, and afterwards you feel bad. Not like this with these Choc-Stix.

Enjoy them with hot tea, coffee, milk or whatever comes in your mind. Or pure.
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Orange Choc Stix

Ingredients:
> 2 oranges, peel untreated (!!!!!!!!!!!)
> 70 ml orange juice (taken from the 2 oranges)
> 160 grams sugar
> 260 ml water
> 60-70 grams good dark chocolat (at least 70 %)
>> Carve orange two times all around, so that you have four areas of peel you can now carefully peel off   from the pulp.

>> Give the peel for two minutes into hot water, just to blanch them shortly. Drain on a kitchen paper.

>> Combine water, orange juice and sugar in a pot and heat it until it cooks. Add the peel pieces. At low heat, let them simmer for 90 minutes.

>> take the peel out of the sirup, shake off the too-much-sirup-stuff and put onto a cake rack - let it dry there for about 2 hours.

>> If you want, you can scrape clean now the white inner stuff from the peel and put into trash, so you just have a few millimeters of pure orange peel. I didn`t do that and it tastes the same, for me. Some say, it is more bitter. I don`t think so. 

>> Cut the peel into long stripes, as thick as you want them to be.

>> Melt chocolate on a hot water bath and dip them into the liquid chocolat. Shake off the choc a bit and put on a baking paper to dry.

>> Store them in a screw top jar or something similar....not to forget: dance around and sing "Hallelujah! I`ve done something gorgeous!" (with the melody of your choice)
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Beetroot-Pear Caprese with Goat Cheese

I had a great last week, with a lots of hours to draw and to cook.
My kitchen was lost in chaos, because I experimented so much. Timo was in south of Germany to work there, and so my day began at 8 o`clock in the morning, baking or cooking. That happened, because I saw some recipes and got some inspirations from different sources and I couldn`t feel asleep very well - all those ideas and thoughts, my brain was already raw!

So I jumped out of the bed as soon as my alarm clock woke me up.
I experimented with cookies including seasalted chips, I tried a recipe for French Fries with Polenta, made my first Creme Brulée (see below), and immediately the second one, because the first failed, created awesome salads and vegetable rissoles....and for sure: photography!

But the most beautiful experiment I made after I have been to the "Slowfood Convivium" on Thursday.
It`s a regular´s table from people in Hamburg who are interested in Slowfood, in good food.
(Slowfood is all around the world, it started in Italy. If you do not know it, you should!!! >> SLOWFOOD.COM)
Well, we had a nice evening with great food. I had awesome mushrooms with herbs and saffron risotto. It was yummy.
I got to know a lot of people who share the love to good food, that was a wonderful experience.
We talked also about beetroot, and exchanged ideas.
Veronika, one of the people I met and a nice lady, told me, that she arranges her beetroot like a burger. She cuts it twice (cooked) and puts goatcheese in between. And I thought she said something like "apple", too.
Well, I had one beetroot at home, and I really really wanted to test a recipe based on her inspiration.
I thought of the nice arrangement you do, when you make an Insalata Caprese, a Mozzarella-Tomato-Salad. You fan the slices out onto the circle of a plate, by turns.

So I cut my raw beetroot in 1 cm thick slices and cooked it.... but just read the recipe:

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Beetroot-Pear Caprese with Goat Cheese
serves 1

Ingredients:
> 1 beetroot
> 1 normal sized pear, ripe and juicy
> 70 grams soft goatcheese
> 0,5 tsp liquid honey
> a few walnuts
> a few pinenuts
> good olive oil
> salt
> thyme
(> if you want to: some corn salad)


>> Preheat oven to 180°C/ 350°F
>> Cut the beetroot into 1 cm thick circles
>> Cook them until soft, but still al dente
>> Cut the pear from the bottom to the top into 5 mm thick circles, remove core where necessary.
>> Arrange beetroot and pear by turns - beetroot, pear, beetroot, pear, overlapping.
>> Tease goat cheese and scatter it over the mixture
>> sprinkle with honey and a bit of olive oil
>> Add salt and thyme
>> Decorate with some pinenuts and walnuts
>> Put into oven at the top, activate the grill from top
>> When the goat cheese is a little golden ( it took me round about 6 to 7 minutes, but check it by yourself), take out. Take care, it`s hot!

>> If you want, put corn salad in the middle.

Enjoy!

...with salad in the middle.

This is my Crème Brulée. It`s not yet perfect, concering the recipe,
so give me some more time to experiment!

Sweet Couscous with Cinnamon Fruits

I made this for breakfast this morning after reading something about Marokko.
If I can`t do a Foodie-Trip to other countries, I have to bring the countries on MY table.
Couscous is a wonderful food and I guess, I often underestimate the million possibilities you can create something with it....for example, something sweet, like here.

Some people do not want to spend more time than 2 minutes for preparing breakfast.
Well, I am not one of those. Breakfast is so important! I also do not want to spent hours, but 15 minutes ...for a good taste, it`s worth the time.
That breakfast doesn`t take long, so give it a try!
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Sweet Couscous with Cinnamon Fruits
serves 1

For the Couscous
> 1/3 cup Couscous
> 1 TBSP Sultanas
> 2 dried abricots, chopped in little dices
> 2 good shots of liquid cream
> a good pinch of cinnamon
> a small piece of butter

For the topping
> 1 small apple, cut in dices (or a pear, if you prefer)
> a small piece of butter
> 1 Tsp honey
> a good pinch of cinnamon

> 1 TBSP pistachios or almonds
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>> heat water
>> combine the Couscous with Sultanas, chopped abricots and cinnamon, mix it.
>> add 1/3 cup of boiled water and the shot cream
>> cover and let it soak for 10 minutes

>> meanwhile, roast the almonds or pistachios without oil in a small pan until they smell wonderful. Put aside.

>> heat a little bit of water in a pan, add the honey, butter and the cinnamon. When all melted together, add the appledices and let it simmer until the apples are a little soft (not pulpy)

>> add the piece of butter to the Couscous, mix and loosen the grains with a fork.
>> Put Couscous on a plate and cover with cinnamon apples. Sprinkle with almonds/pistachios, add the second shot of cream and sprinkle with cinnamon

If you want a sweeter breakfast, add a little honey to the dry Couscous before adding the boiled water.

Awesome Rustic Tomato Soup

I don`t know where YOU live, but here in Germany, tomatoes are not so tasty in winter (now), it`s too cold for them to grow and we get that horrible greenhouse tomatoes from the Netherlands that grew on mineral cotton and taste like nothing.
But I wanted to post it already such a long time ago.
I really want to share that now with you, because it`s an f***ing awesome basic recipe, and so tasty! I got it from a friend and we both agreed: everybody should have the possibility to enjoy it!...I guess, most of my readers do not live in cold cold Germany. Probably you are lucky and live in a country where you can enjoy tomatoes RIGHT NOW in their best way.

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RUSTIC TOMATO SOUP
serves 2

Ingredients:
> 250 grams fresh cottage loaf with crispy crust
> 250 grams tomatoes, ripe and strong (best: cherry tomatoes)
> 1 big garlic clove, chopped
> Olive oil (good quality, please, the taste is important)
> 400 grams tinned tomatoes (in Germany this is one big tin)
> 1 not-too-big bunch of basil ( you can use all of it, also the stipes)
> salt and pepper
> a twist of red wine

Preheat oven: 350° F

>> Place baking paper on a baking sheet
>> prick your tomatoes a few times and mix them with half of your garlic and half of your basil
>> add salt and pepper
>> spread with olive oil and put into oven for 20-25 minutes

>> take a huge pot and heat a bit of oil in it.
>> Add garlic gently until soft,  keep on stirring.
>> Add 800 grams of tomatoes and basil
>> Add 700 grams of water
>> Bring to boil and let go for 15 minutes
>> Chop the big tomatoe-pieces after it with a fork or big spoon.
>> Chop your bread into dices.
>> Add bread, salt and pepper to the soup and bring to low heat.
>> Let cook for 15 minutes
>> Add a twist of red wine

>> When the oven tomatoes are ready (20-25 minutes) put all ont the tray immediately into your big pot.

>> When the soup is kind of thick and viscid, a little lumpy, kind of irregular mushy, it`s perfect.
Have  a look, if you need more water (you can also add a little gulp of red wine or white wine).
When it has the right consistency, add some oliveoil.

Enjoy hot!
And: It makes you really really full. Be careful :) But It`s so tasty, you probably eat and eat and explode in the end. LÖike that stupid crocodile a few years ago that tried to eat...well...any too-big-animal...and BOOOOM!
I do not guarantee for your health!

FoodLaughLove

People,

I was ill a long while, I stayed in bed since christmas with a big fat angina.
Imagine...I only could dream about cooking. No taste, no experimenting, nothing.
So something had to hold my head up...
I really really love these crazy foodstuff here- AAAHAHAHAHHAHA! LOVE IT!:

I have to work a lot now, but as soon as I am back to normal life, I have beautiful stuff to cook (already have a whole list!) and to share with you.
Please stay true, hope u had all a magical start into 2013!

Kisses,
Fabia

Cookies arrived.

The Christmas Cookie Session is over.

Timo "helped" me very well in eating :) But most of the cookies I gave away to friends or people I wanted to share something with.

And this is what happens when you do so:
This came by e-mail from a friend I sent cookies to!
Thanks Mike, I am glad you liked them all! :) ....

* means "world`s best coooooookiiiiies!!!THANK YOU!!!!" :D

God, I LOVE when people share their foodie-joy!

Cinnamon Fingers - XMas Cookies V

Before Timo and I will leave to Paris for a few days of romance and great food :), I will give you another wonderful more classic recipe for cookies.

Normally in Germany, we always have some cookies called cinnamon stars. “Zimtsterne”.
This is absolutely classic.
There is a baiser-topping on them, and it is sometimes really a mess to get it onto all the star-tips. But god gave us creativity (or somebody else), and so there is a solution for it, for sure.
This variation is beautiful, too,  and easier to handle. And nice to eat, because you can dip it into your warm drink.

Caramel loves cookies, too!

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CINNAMON FINGERS

Ingredients:
(50 to 60 pcs.)

Dough:
>> 400 grams grounded almonds
>> 1 pinch of piment , grounded
>> 1 pinch of clove, grounded
>> 1,5 Tbsp cinnamon (hey, these are CINNAMON stix, it`s the dominant ingredient. Don´t be shy with it)
>> eventually a little bit of flour, if dough is too soft

Baiser Topping:
>> 3 eggwhite
>> 1 pinch of salt
>> 1 Tbsp lemonjuice
>> 270 grams sugar


> Mix almonds with piment, cloves and cinnamon.
> In another bowl, beat eggwhite and salt to a stable snow. Add a few drops of lemonjuice. Bit by bit, add the sugar and beat beat beat all the time. You need to beat the mass for 10 minutes. In the end, add the rest of the lemonjuice and mix it under the mass.

> Now separate the baiser-mass:
4 Tbsp should be put aside for the topping
Knead step by step the rest of the baiser-mass under your almond-mixture. Do that until the dough is smooth and you have the feeling it could be rolled out after cooled in the fridge. If it is too soft and gluey gluey, add a little bit of flour until the dough has the consistency you like.
> Wrap in foil and put in fridge at least 1 hour

> Preheat oven: 170 °C
> Sprinkle your workplace generously with sugar. Roll out the dough on it. Time by time, seperate the dough from the workplace for that it does not glue too much.
In the end, you should have a 1 cm thick square, or something very close to it, for that there are not too many dough-leftovers.
When rolled out completely, lift it onto a sugar-sprinkled baking paper – it does not glue that much on it.

> Coat the 4 Tbsp baiser-mass onto your beautiful square.
> with a long knife, cut your square into horizontals and verticals. “My” fingers are 2cm x 8 cm and 1 cm thick.
> If you want, mix a little cinnamon with sugar and sprinkle it over the mass.
> Lift the fingers onto a baking tray with baking paper (best to lift them with a knife blade).
> Put into the middle of the oven and let bake for around 10 minutes (should stay light on top)
> Let cool down on a cooling rack, NOT on the tray ( for that they don`t get more heat than necessary) 

Cut with a long knife into a grid

Okay, that`s it!

Looks like snowy sticks, doesn`t it? So if you don´t have snow outside, you have kind of snow (tasty one!) in your kitchen :)
Enjoy, dance around, sing "Jingle Bells" and be thankful for life and cookies.

Do you find the CAT (part 2) ?

Nut Slices - XMas Cookies IV

 The next recipe for Christmas cookies is ready to be explored by you!
You think I already have a lot?
Well, you should see how Timo loves those cookies and how they “melt” under my fingers. I really have to hurry to bake new ones. If not, one poor decemberday, there are no cookies left! Uh-OH!

Okay, here are the nut slices. I already posted them last year, but without recipe. Because I really love them and I want you to love them, too, here is it.

In Germany, you can buy these slices in big size in bakeries. I already loved them as a child.
But now, I prefer the smaller ones, because you can better control the amount you eat and I am always a little tickled pink when I filch one out of the cookiebox.

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NUT SLICES
70-80 pieces

Ingredients:

Dough:
>> 250 grams all-purpose flour
>> 4 Tbsp sugar
>> 200 grams unsalted butter, softened
>> 1 egg

Nut Topping:
>> 150 grams unsaltened butter, softened
>> 180 grams icing sugar
>> 200 grounded grams hazelnuts
>> 1 tsp cinnamon, grounded
>> 2 eggs

>> 200 grams dark chocolat

Let´s go:
> Preheat oven to 190°C (370° Fahrenheit)
> Prepare baking sheets with baking paper
> Knead a smooth dough from flour, sugar, butter and egg.
> Roll it out to a rectangle - it`s worth the effort to prepare this rectangle really exact, so it is absolutely perfect to cut later into triangles.

TIP: To roll out the dough without heavy sticking, layer it like this:
Baking paper – dough – flour – baking paper. Roll over the last baking paper.
> Prick dough with a fork at some parts

> For the nut topping: mix butter, icing sugar, hazelnuts, cinnamon and eggs.
> Coat onto your dough-rectangle

> Bake it in the middle of your oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until lightly brown.
> Take it out and cut it when it is still hot in small triangles.
Easiest way is that here:

> Let cool down
> Melt chocolate in a warm waterbath (how to see my recipe for the cocoa-spice-mountains here)
> Dip two corners of your triangles into the chocolat, put onto a baking paper and let dry.

TIP: Before dipping into chocolate, shake the slice a bit for that the crumbs fall down. If you do not, your melted chocolate is soon full of little crumbs.

Enjoy! These are really very yummy!
And we do it like every time:
Dancing around in the kitchen, raise your beautiful voices to sing jingle bells and be happy, because you just made the awesomestststst cookies ever! With singing and dancing, they get even better!

Cocoa-Spice-Mountains - Xmas Cookies III

Hellohooow Naschkatzen & Naschkater (german word for having a sweet tooth :o))

So here I am with my next "Every-year"-recipe for xmas-cookies.

I visited my parents like last year at their little house at the lake - the best thing there in winter is the little chimney! My mother and me bake a lot. We love it, and my father loves it when there is a beautiful warm crackling fire burning in the chimney and everything smells like cookies.
After that haaard work we had some nice walks with our cameras around the lake, which is so beautiful and sometimes a little scary in wintertime.

The crackling chimney. And on the right, me and my "uncle" Hans-Karl

For the cookies:
These ones here belong to those recipes I didn`t eat in childhood, but I explored it the first time I bake my own cookies in my very first own appartment. Since then, I bake it every year, because the flavour is..well, like it is said: chocolat with spices! And I am crazy about spices - you should see my cupboards - and I`ve got also a lot of herbs in the garden, which I dry or use fresh. Well, I am a little witch, I guess.


So, this is a verrry simple basic recipe.
Like I am a little kitchen-alchemist, I love to add flavours and make experiments with basic recipes.
You can do so, if you want, too!
Add some spices you love or you can imagine very well in combination with chocolat (thyme? rosemary?). Or dip in a chocolat you really love...white, black..whatever. As topping, you can also put on whatever comes in your mind. With my mom I already chopped apricots and sprinkled them into dark choc. So: Be creative. Or just stick to the recipe here. It`s awesome, just like it is (you even can omit the choc-topping, they are wonderful in a pure way)

Okay, the only thing a little tricky (if you are not in Germany) is the gingerbreadspice (I don`t know if you get this in other countries).
So I add a recipe for it, too. It is just a spice mixture. A little from here and there and POFF! - tadaaa! There it is!

For sure, you can just add cinnamon, if you like, then you have chocolat-cinnamon-mountains.

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GINGERBREADSPICE

all spices grounded
>> 35 grams cinnamon
>> 9 grams clove
>> 2 grams pimento
>> 2 grams coriander
>> 2 grams cardamom
>> 1.5 grams nutmeg
>> 2 grams ginger

> Just mix all together and fill in a little glass or box or whatever. Tadaaaa! That`s it! Easy, eh?
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COCOA-SPICE -MOUNTAINS
60-70 pieces

>> 200 grams butter, softened
>> 100 grams icing sugar
>> 3 eggyolks (you can freeze the eggwhites for later. Use them f.e. for cinnamon-cookies or baisers)
>> 8 grams vanilla sugar (1 package here in Germany)
>> 1 tsp. gingerbreadspice
>> 1 pinch of salt

>> 200 grams all purpose flour
>> 130 grams hazelnuts, grounded
>> 35 grams cocoapowder (good quality, if possible)
>> 1 Tbsp. baking powder

>> 100 grams chocolat glaze
>> 70 pistachios, pure, roasted a little time in a pan. (You can also use almond bits or other nuts)


> Mix butter, icing sugar, egg yolks, vanilla sugar, salt and gingerbreadspice with a handmixer until creamy.
> Sieve flour, baking powder and cocoa into the buttermixture, add hazelnuts and knead with a handmixer until smooth. Wrap in foil and cool it in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
> Prepare two baking trays with baking sheets.
> Preheat oven to 170°C (350°C Fahrenheit)
> Flour your hands (! - better you put a little bowl with flour next to you to refresh it from time to time) and shape little balls from the dough. The size should be round about like a small (!) walnut.
> Put them on the tray. You can make round about 6 rows with 6 balls. They rise a little bit, but not that much.
> Bake them 12 minutes.
> Cool down on a cooling rack.
> Chop the chocolat glaze and put them in a small pot and prepare a how waterbath (How to: The small pot should fit on a little bigger one. In this bigger one, give 2 cm of water. Put the chocolat pot above (pot should not touch the water). Heat the water slowly (do NOT boil it))
- when the chocolat is melted, dip in the top of a cookie and add a nut on top.
> Cool down and let dry

You can store them up to 6 weeks ! But I guess you eat them before :)


Oh, and like always:
Dance through the kitchen, singing Jingle Bells for upgrading you cookies to wonder-awesome-awh-awh-christmas-cookies!
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Beautiful-scary lake

Me, my mum and a beautiful last-berry-standing.

Who wants to swim?

Mommy`s Spitzbuben - XMas Cookies II

Ooooookay guys, this is the easiest cookie-recipe ever. It is THE recipe of my childhood! Oh myyy!... I already had a post last year with these ones *klick*, when I made them with my mom, but no recipe - sorry for that!

I eat/bake those cookies for christmas time since I was a little kid - I guess I already participated in this feast when I was an embryo, because my mother made them long before I was born.
In Germany, this christmas cookie is really popular. Nearly every family bakes it.
We call it "Spitzbuben" in most parts of the country.

Over the years, I got different recipes from different moms and grandmas.
Every family has its own favourite recipe, but honestly: it`s just a shift in ingredient amount. The ingredients itselfs stay the same.

If you take more butter, it`s getting softer and more fluffy, if you take less, it`s getting harder.
If you roll them out thinner, it´s getting more fine, if you roll it out quite thick it has a great bite.

I post here my own variation, which is a  mixture between my mom`s recipe and the one of my mom-probably-one-day-in-law. The thickness of your rolled-out circles stays with you. As thick as you prefer. I roll them out 0,5 cm or a little more.

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SPITZBUBEN
amount depends on the thickness

Ingredients:
>> 200 grams sugar
>> 250 grams unsalted butter (little softened)
>> 500 grams flour
>> 1 egg

Filling:
>> a 400 ml glass of marmelade (jelly, no pieces of fruits!)


> Mix all ingredients (except marmelade) together, knead them quickly until homogenous
> wrap in foil, put in the fridge for at least 1 hour
> put the dough out, roll it out on a generous floured surface.

TIP: Put a foil between the dough and your rolling pin. So nothing sticks on the pin, it is the easiest way to roll out dough. Please - flour the surface GENEROUS. The dough can be really gooey!

> Cut out the cookies with a circle cookie cutter in the size you prefer. If you want, cut a little hole in every second circle (like I did) - so you get those nice "marmelade eyes".
> Put them on baking sheet on baking tray
> Bake them for about 8-12 minutes. Have an eye on the cookies. Get them out before they get brown on top. The bottom side is then lightly brown. Take care during the baking process, so you find out soon the "strength" of your oven and the baking time YOU need for your Spitzbuben.
> Take out, let cool down on a rack.

> Put the marmelade in a little pot and heat it softly until more liquid.
> Brush or coat (with a knife) one circle with some marmelade, put another circle on top.
> Let dry for a few hours.
> Store them in a Tupperware or closed box.

ENJOY! <3 Really ...they are awesome!

And like always: Dance around and sing Jingle Bells to make cookies even MORE tasty!

German Lebkuchen & Chocolat Baiser Kisses - XMas Cookies I

Okaaay, lovely people.
The pre-christmas time began. This is MY TIME! Christmascookierecipes...come to me! YAYA!

Just in time, 1st of november, I began baking. Not one day before or one later.1st!
I always make two recipes in one session.
One "every-year-again-recipe", a classical one. And the second is something new. Something different, interesting, not-so-classical.


Here we go:
1) Absolut classical german LEBKUCHEN, from Nuremberg. For me, the Nuremberg Lebkuchen are the best in whole Germany. Nobody does so well as they do. The tradition is very very old. The Lebkuchen are so fresh and tasty and fluffy and spicy, and and and...OHH, I love them!
I had kind of a "second family", my guest family in Portugal, when I lived there. I brought them once a package of Nuremberger Lebkuchen, and the dad of the family got crazy about it. He ate it ALL (and he has two little kids...he didn`t want to share - hahaha!).
Please, people out there, TRY it! bake it. Love it! Enjoy! It`s so wonderful! Best of christmastime!

2) Not classical, but experimental, beautiful and ommnomm: Chocolat Baiser Kisses.
It combines three ingredients I really really love:
Cocoa (Chocolat) Powder (into the baisers), marsipan and nougat (my absolute favourite chocolattype!)

Here are the recipes:
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Nürnberger LEBKUCHEN
50 pieces, wafer aperture: 50 mm)

TIP: Begin to prepare them either early in the morning or in the late evening. They have to rest for 12 hours before baking.

Ingredients:
>> 50 wafer (aperture 50 mm)
>> 4 eggs
>> 250 grams brown sugar
>> 250 grams all-purpose flour
>> 200 grams hazelnuts, grounded
>> 70 grams candied lemon peel
>> 70 grams candied orange peel
>> 75 grams almond, chopped
>> 1 tsp cinnamon, grounded
>> 1 pinch of grounded clove
>> 1 pinch of grounded cardamom
>> 1 pinch of grounded nutmeg
>> 2,5 level tsp baking powder

Icing:
>> 200 grams icing sugar
>> 3 Tbsp lemon juice
>> 50 almonds, peeled (half or complete, it`s your choice. I prefer them half, because they stick better in the icing)


> Mix eggs and sugar in a mixer undtil creamy
> Add flour, almonds, hazelnuts, candied lemon & orange peel, cinnamon, baking powder and all spices. Fold in thoroughly with a wooden spoon.
> Prepare 2 baking sheets. Put wafers on it and a little cup of water next to you.
> With the help of two teaspoons, put a good amount of dough onto the wafer. You will get a feeling, how much it should be. Be generous! The heaps can be a little bigger.
> Damp your fingers and flatten the dough heaps into the final shape. Arrange them immediately after shaping onto the baking tray/baking sheet, where they should stay. The wet wafer makes it stick on the sheet, and you can`t really move them before baking.
> Put them aside and let them dry for 12 hours.
> Preheat oven to 150° C ( 300 F )
> Put the trays in the middle of the oven. Bake for 18-20 minutes.
> Let them cool down.
> Prepare the icing by mixing sifted icing sugar and lemon juice. Brush Lebkuchen with it and put one almond on the top. Let them dry completely.

TIP!!: To store them, please put a slice of fresh bread into the same box (seperated by a kitchen paper). The bread "feeds" the Lebkuchen with humidity, so they stay wonderful soft and luscious in the inside.

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Chocolat Baiser Kisses
30 pieces
Ingredients:
>> 100 grams almonds, grounded
>> 100 grams icing sugar + 20 grams extra for the marsipan
>> 2 Tbsp best dark unsweetend cocoa powder
>> 2 eggwhite
>> 50 grams fine sugar
>> pinch of salt
>> 100 grams marsipan paste
>> 100 grams nougat (I tried to use a good chocolat instead of the stuff you can find in the baking areas in supermarkets. It worked, and it tastes much better!)


> Preheat oven to 150°C (Air circulation 130°C)/300 F and prepare 2 baking sheets.
> Mix almonds, 100 grams icing sugar and cocoa powder
> Prepare a how waterbath and an ice cold waterbath.
> First, beat eggwhites over the hot waterbath with the fine sugar and pinch of salt. It should be a warm, stiff mass.
> Second: beat it immediately after that in the cold waterbath, until cooled down.
> Fold in almond mixture.

> Fill the mass into a piping bag.
    If you have no, do it yourself :)  >>MAKE YOUR OWN PIPING BAG
> Squirt 60 little heaps onto the sheets, not bigger than 2 cm diameter. You can flatten the top with damp fingers, if you want.
> Bake them for about 18 minutes. Let them cool down (in the oven, door open)

> Roll out marsipan on your 20 grams leftofer icing sugar.
> cut circles out of the marsipan in the same size of the final baisers. You can do that with whatever you find - I often take a small shot glass, the edge floured that it doesn`t stick on it.> Melt Nougat.
> Brush two bottom sides of your baisers, put one marsipan circle in between and glue them together.
> To dry them, you have to be a little creative, because if you lay them down, the both baisers drift apart. I put them on a cooling rack, where I could arrange them stable.> Let them dry.


Most important: ENJOY ENJOY ENJOY and sing JINGLE BELLS, while dancing in the kitchen
(makes the cookies more magical)